


Going to the Gathering, As a Family

by Akinasky



Series: SterekBingo 2019 [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha & Emissary Relationship(s) (Teen Wolf), Alpha and Emissary Gathering, BAMF Spark Stiles, M/M, Mercy Thompson Characters Visiting, Other Alphas Being Dicks, ShadowHunters Characters Visiting, Sterek Bingo, Sterek Bingo 2019, sbpackparents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 11:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18777334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Stiles and Derek have to take their younger children with them to the Alpha and Emissary Gathering. Derek is Scott's Second and Stiles is the Emissary. Some humor and visiting peeps from other worlds.Story in the Negasonic Teenage Warhead is Sterek's Daughter Series





	Going to the Gathering, As a Family

“Derek!” Stiles whined bouncing in place with apparent frustration, “This is the worst!”

“We’ve lived through ‘the worst’ and this is not it,” Derek scoffed as he rocked their youngest son, Ralston out of the crying jag he was currently trapped in. Now if only Derek’s very adult husband would follow suit, but it didn’t seem like that was a possibility. Derek was going to end up rocking and petting Stiles later undoubtedly, not that he had a problem with that normally but Ralston needed his attention first and Stiles’s ‘disaster’ wasn’t a disaster at all.

“Yes, it is, this is the worst thing! Are you sure there aren’t any alternatives? Cora? Scott? Erica and Boyd?”

“Well you know that Scott can’t do it because he’s required to be at the Gathering as well. Erica and Boyd planned their trip ages ago so nope and Cora is busy, she isn’t even here right now which you would know if you weren’t freaking out about a minor inconvenience. We are going to be just fine. Just maybe consider getting over it because you are being ridiculous.”

Stiles gasped in horror, “How dare you?”

Derek rolled his eyes, “You’re right, how dare I expect my husband to calm down and have a rational conversation with me about this.”

“Why? Why should I _always_ be rational? Why should I be rational about this?”

“Always rational?” Derek asked with a derisive snort.

“Shut it Derek, we were going to have a room to ourselves for the first time since Claudia was born and now, we have to take not one but three kids!”

Derek shook his head, “Actually I’m going to be taking four.”

“Claudia isn’t here, she’s doing fine at the X-Mansion.”

Derek gave Stiles a significant look, “I’m not talking about Claudia.”

“Oh fuck you Derek,” Stiles whisper hissed.

“Love you too sweetie,” Derek responded, smirking a little as he kissed Ralston’s head. The baby was just about cried out and Stiles wasn’t shouting anymore so that was helping.

“I don’t want to go then if we aren’t going to get a chance to have alone time,” Stiles pouted.

“If you cross your arms like a petulant child right now, I am going to put you in timeout and take away your cellphone and make you sleep on the couch.”

“You wouldn’t,” Stiles almost crossed his arms, testing Derek who just looked at him, waiting to see if he would do it. Derek wasn’t really joking, he couldn’t deal with Stiles and upset baby at the same time. When Stiles sighed and walked over to him, placing a hand on Ralston’s teeny tiny back and tucked himself close to Derek’s neck and chest. “I was so looking forward to having you all to myself.”

Derek pulled his hand away from Ralston’s back since Stiles was holding him steady and pressed a hand to the back of his husband’s head. “I know though I don’t think you completely understand that we were going to be busy the whole time we are there. I mean you’ve gone to them before; I don’t know what kind of shenanigans you thought we were going to have time and energy for.”

Stiles shrugged, “I know but seriously, a hotel room with no kids was going to be the highlight of my year. We have always been able to get a babysitter before, or one of us was with them.”

“Well now we are going to get to show the children how important these kinds of Gatherings are for our Pack.”

“Ugh,” Stiles groaned, “Like they care.”

“But you do, my love and we are going to show them what a badass Emissary you are.”

“And what a badass Second in Command you are, I love my bro but I can always tell when you’ve prepped him before the meetings.”

“You mean every week?” Derek grinned.

Stiles laughed, “Exactly.”

“I can’t believe they invited him to do a talk about the ‘True Alpha’ thing, he’s such a dork and he has his whole speech written in crayon.”

“He doesn’t!” Stiles exclaimed trying to make it into a question but not really, it was too loud though as Ralston wriggle in disgruntlement so Stiles patted his back gently. Ralston snuffled his nose into

Derek laughed quietly before he pressed his cheek to the top of Ralston’s head, “No that is an exaggeration but he did use some sort of glitter pens on his notecards instead of black ink like a loon.”

“Yeah, his kiddos are super into glitter pens right now, that doesn’t even surprise me. It’s possible they made him do it.”

“Our Alpha: controlled by his ten-year-old, let me show you my surprised facial expression,” Derek responded shaking his head.

Stiles laughed then sobered, “Do you ever wish you’d been able to get the alpha power from your family?”

Derek shook his head, “Nah, I am happy with my life, I am still sad every day that my family is gone but I make the best of it and you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, besides Claudia, the twins and this little guy. I don’t need to be an alpha to be okay.”

Stiles pressed a kiss to Derek’s cheek, “Well I guess we better get these three packed for the Gathering then. Are you sure they aren’t going to get mad about the kids being with us?”

Derek nodded, “I called them already, the Gathering doesn’t normally have anyone younger than one but they don’t mind. The twins are just going to be spending time with the other kids and the care providers that are there, I don’t think there are many but because it’s a werewolf event, the possibility of having kids there is always a possibility they plan for. Ralston is too young to stay with anyone but us but they aren’t upset about it. I’m sure he’s going to make us really popular while we’re there.”

Stiles sighed and pulled away gently so Derek could reposition his hand on Ralston’s back so the baby wouldn’t fall backwards or feel any less safe. Stiles moved to start packing a bag for the baby while Derek kept rocking their son. Ana and Matteo were packed already because they had been going to go to one of their babysitters before. They just hadn’t gotten around to packing Ralston yet. Hopefully now that the childish antics were out of Stiles’s system maybe they could get on the road and not be late for the Gathering.

A couple hours later they were loading the three kids into the minivan and driving to the Alpha and Emissary Gathering, where about twenty alpha and emissary pairs (some bring their seconds like Scott does though many of them leave their seconds with their packs but since Derek and Scott both technically have Seconds, everyone was fine) come from all over the nation.

They get together to talk about pack issues, Emissary trained together and learned new magics and spells for the sake of the packs they supported and allies were created and supported. Sometimes even arranged marriages were still decided on during the three day event for solidified treaties when someone in the area was having a difficult time finding someone they wanted to be with. It wasn’t a forced thing; packs would ask if anyone was willing because marriage treaties were still a valuable tool especially in the werewolf community.

Of course, the McCall-Hale Pack was still one of the few packs to have other supers in it, like Lydia and Malia and Kira, even Jordan was counted among the Pack when the need was great. He was more loyal to Noah, Stiles’s dad than he was to Scott or Derek in particular but it was still a strong enough bond to bring him in and keep him in Beacon Hills. Not to mention the fact that the McCall-Hale Pack welcomed and are supported by humans in their community, it was one thing that they were treated like rock stars over.

The drive, despite having two ten-year old’s and a six-month-old was surprisingly calm, Stiles was showing them a movie and though they didn’t do it very often, it was helping them. When they got to the hotel, Stiles pulled the car seat out while Derek helped the twins down out of the van. They all walked in with a valet pulling all their bags behind them on a cart after handing the keys off to the parking attendant.

One of the perks of the Gathering, parking and valets and everything was included as well as two meals, which would be given to the twins as well. Ralston was going to have milk which was in a specialized cooler from their wet nurse. He was going to need to eat soon, already fussing to be held but Derek hoped that they would be settled in their room before the fussing ended up being all out crying.

Derek got them all signed in and they headed for the elevator with their room key and the valet. They were in one of the corner rooms on the first floor which was really good, Ralston’s crying or fussing wouldn’t be to problematic for other people there for the convention and they would be close to the childcare room and the rooms where everyone was meeting. They closed the door and moved Ana and Matteo off to one of the beds when Ralston started screeching, clearly had more than enough of the car seat. Stiles pulled him out of the carrier while Derek warmed a bottle that he pulled from the cooler. It only took a couple minutes before Stiles was holding out his wrist to test the temperature; they found out the hard way that Derek’s healing kicked in too fast to actually sense if the milk or formula was too hot and they were determined never to scald one of their ‘littles’ ever again. Claudia screamed for several hours after that and refused to eat from Derek for three days. Something that Derek would rather never experience again.

Derek helped Stiles settle on the bed, leaning against the wall, to feed Ralston while he got some sandwiches for the twins to eat. They sat at the table and munched quietly on their food.

“We might have to go to a nearby store and get some extra food just in case the hotel can’t keep up with them.”

Derek nodded in answer. Ana and Matteo could go through food really fast. They could do that after the mixer or the next morning if they found they needed it. For now he just leaned against the wall and watched as Stiles held their son, rocking him a little as he fed the boy from his bottle.

“What?” Stiles asked with a smile.

“I always loved watching you do that,” Derek said with a smile.

“I love watching you too, holding him or any of the kids. You’re a great dad, Derek.”

“You’re a great Tata, Stiles.”

Stiles grinned and Derek checked on the twins, kissing each of them on the head before he helped them clean up and headed over to the childcare room which was one of the hotel rooms down the hall. There were three young female wolves, from various packs and Derek introduced himself and the twins. “We should be back in about an hour, its just the first mixer.”

The girls waved him off after he signed them in. The girls: Sarah, Jesse and Markie seemed happy to spend time taking care of the pack children so he kissed Ana and Matteo again before telling them to call his cellphone if they needed anything.

He walked back to the room where Stiles was changing into a button up shirt and Ralston was sleeping in the center of the big bed. Derek frowned, “Did we bring something for him to sleep in?”

“We’ll just use one of the clothing drawers,” Stiles said casually and Derek goggled at him, “I’m kidding Derek. Good grief. They are sending a bassinet up. I called down when you took the kids over and realized we spaced it, silly really, since it’s not even our first kid but it should be here before we are back from the mixer. They weren’t even worried about the request, maybe it happens more than we think.”

Derek shook his head then pulled out a clean shirt to wear, a soft maroon Henley with thumb holes, but once it was on Derek felt Stiles’s hands were pressing under his shirt across his stomach. Stiles pressed his lips to the side of Derek’s neck, “You know how I feel about this goddamned shirt, why do you do this to me? The twins and Rally are going to be in this room and I am not going to get the chance to ravage you.”

“I love the scent of you when I wear it,” Derek whispered and pressed a kiss to Stiles’s head, ignoring the rest of the explicit part of Stiles’s comment.

“Frustration and sexual desire?”

“Well half right, you do smell amazing but you are going to have to keep it in your pants because half the people in the ballroom are going to be able to smell it on you as well as me.”

Stiles shrugged, “I’m just going to point at you and they’ll understand.”

Derek laughed and walked over to the bed and lifted Ralston from the bed and let him resettle against his chest. He whimpered a little but he didn’t wake. The warmth and the closeness was going to keep the baby asleep better than actual silence. Ralston has slept through more than a couple pack meetings and raucous dinners. Stiles grabbed the key card and his phone, heading for the door. They walked out to the elevator and went down to the lobby floor together and headed to the ballroom where the mixer was going on. The sign on the door said something innocuous like CEO and CFO team training or something, the Gatherings usually used a couple different ‘cover stories’. The second Stiles opened the door and they walked in; Scott shouted “Stiles! Derek! Over here!”

Derek winced as Ralston shifted and whimpered. He knew Scott’s voice and responded to it. Derek shushed the baby, patting his back gently. Stiles walked over to his best friend and smacked him in the back of the head while some of the other alphas in the room stared in surprise, “Seriously man if you wake up my son I am going to come over to your house and wake your kids in the middle of the night.”

Scott winced, “Sorry, that was stupid.”

A woman walked over to them a sweet smiled on her face; dark skin and a scar running across her neck, “My name is Maia Roberts, I came in from New York to this Gathering, I’m a new alpha and I am looking for ways to help cohesion in my Pack and I’ve heard good things, weird things but good things about the McCall-Hale Pack. Can I pick your brains sometime?”

Stiles looked at Derek then at Scott before nodding, “Of course, do you have an Emissary? Maybe I can help them?”

“What’s an Emissary?” She whispered and a couple people looked over at them.

“Don’t worry about it,” Stiles said and giving some of the nearby people a glare until they turned and at least pretended like they weren’t eavesdropping, “The McCall-Hale Pack didn’t have an Emissary for a long time and they made it through without. We can help you with that. Did you bring your second with you?”

Maia nodded and waved to another man who walked over and nodded, he was older; maybe a mentor rather than a Second in Command but Derek was older than Scott so there was a good chance it was a similar situation. “This is Luke Garroway, he has graciously decided to stand as my Second until I can choose my own. He was the Alpha before me.”

Stiles and Scott shook hands with Luke and Derek tried not to get his back up about the fact that a werewolf put his hand on his husband. Holding their son and watching Stiles with someone, even platonically, can make the werewolf instincts rise to the surface. He pressed his cheek against Ralston’s head and nodded to Maia and Luke, trying to be welcoming but at the same time not touching anyone. The desire to keep their scent off of Ralston was overwhelming, thankfully Stiles was very good as drawing the attention away from Derek’s social shortcomings, which is only one of the reasons they were such a great team.

“You brought your child to the Gathering?” Luke asked.

“Three of them actually,” Stiles chuckled sounding far more relaxed and accepting of the whole thing than he was a couple hours and a car ride ago but then he had always been good at putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few, “Our babysitter fell through at the last minute and so we brought three children with us. It’s not that weird, other packs bring some of their children with them too. Family werewolf packs are very close and werewolves frequently train their young very early and this is good for everyone. Ralston is just really _really_ young, in need of constant care and feeding, so he’s going to be with us most of the time. Problem?”

Luke shook his head, “The packs in New York aren’t really family friendly. It’s mostly forcibly turned wolves who are constantly fighting for the power.”

Derek made a sound of empathy, living in places where there wasn’t a lot of support for the supernatural and there was a lot of violence made having families dangerous. He should know, he lived in New York too for some time with Laura before they returned to Beacon Hills and he wouldn’t go back no matter what happened. His spouse and children wouldn’t have been safe there.

“So, I am Stiles Stilinski-Hale and I am the Emissary of the McCall-Hale Pack. Scott McCall is my best bro and the alpha and this is Derek Hale-Stilinski who is my husband and the most kick ass 2IC in the history of Seconds and this is our youngest son Ralston.”

Luke and Maia nodded to Derek and they started circulating the room. About four alphas later, Derek was growling when they wouldn’t stop touching Stiles. Finally, he stepped in front of the next alpha who tried to touch Stiles’s shoulder in a clear attempt to overtake Derek’s scent on his husband. Stiles motioned for Derek to hand Ralston over to him so he did. Two werewolves snarling at each other was not the place for a six-month-old to be. Derek had no desire to see Ralston or Stiles be harmed. They aren’t allowed to get into a physical altercation at the Gathering but trying to steal someone’s husband was one of the vilest things a werewolf can do to another at the Gathering, if that’s what was happening.

“I understand the desire to scent mark someone who is desired for their power but Emissary Stilinski isn’t here looking for a new pack and he isn’t interested in anything any of you alphas have to offer. Stop scent marking as if you are staking a claim on him.”

“Is that what they are doing? How rude?” Stiles gasped in surprise, sometimes even after all the time that Stiles spent with wolves they could still be surprised. Because of the way the Alpha Gatherings were set up, they were meeting mostly new alphas and emissaries due to the rotating schedule and locations. It was the only way they would still be able to create new alliances, too bad that meant that they were currently dealing with some rude alphas who didn’t seem to care about what they were doing.

“Please. Second in Command Hale, Emissary Stilinski could have an alpha. Are you saying that’s not in the least interesting to him? He’s like a beacon in the room, calling all of us to him, he’s doing it on purpose.”

Derek didn’t have to look to know Stiles was glaring at the man and biting back a list of expletives he could be calling them right now. Derek didn’t need to check in with his spouse to know that he was offended by the other alpha’s behavior. He didn’t need to wonder if Stiles was reaching out to others, looking for a new alpha or husband.

Instead he leaned in to sniff at the alpha’s neck before he moved up to his chin and mouth before stating, “I wouldn’t worry about that since you are probably going to be spending the evening throwing up all the Wolsfbane laced alcohol you’ve been downing all night. Did no one teach you that stuff can kill in high doses?”

The alpha looked at another person, perhaps his second then rushed away, barely holding back the desire to gag. Derek turned back to Stiles who was staring at him, grinning, “Was he really drinking Wolfsbane laced drinks?”

Derek shrugged, “I don’t know though clearly he’s too young to know the difference and now his breath is going to smell like booze and puke for the rest of the evening.”

Stiles stepped over to him and pressed a kiss to his lips and Derek smiled, “You are so damn good looking when you are like this.”

Derek smiled, pressing another kiss to Ralston’s head then another to Stiles’s cheek, “Let’s finish up, go get the twins and hit the sack.”

“We are going to have plenty of work to do in the morning, sleep sounds good.”

A couple that they haven’t met yet walked over to them and the man spoke who was clearly an alpha. Derek couldn’t figure out what the woman was immediately, “I do not wish to interrupt your plan to seek out your children and your bed but I wanted to share my gratitude for your actions.”

Derek nodded to the couple, “Derek Hale-Stilinski and my husband Stiles. And you are?”

“Adam Hauptman and my wife, Mercedes. I believe you met my daughter, Jesse, she is one of the young ladies helping to watch the smaller children.” The man responded with a slight bow of his head.

Derek nodded, “Yes, she seems nice. She is with our twins: Ana and Matteo.”

Stiles spoke up, “You expressed gratitude? For what?”

Adam nodded to Stiles, “Several of the alphas here, young to their power, seem to be determined to take Emissaries, spouses or Seconds from other alphas in the room and because of the violence ban of the Gathering I was struggling to get past my urge to hurt them. You found a way to say what needed saying without resorting to violence.”

Stiles kept rocking Ralston, “That’s because Derek has been a werewolf his whole life and he isn’t an alpha, sometimes those instincts can get in the way especially in these kinds of situations.”

Adam nodded, “You make a great deal of sense, I still believe in giving credit where it is do. Second Hale, thank you again.”

“I’m not going to let someone make assumptions about my husband and the Emissary of our Pack. I didn’t know he’d been doing it to others in the room though.”

Mercy smiled at Stiles, “I do sense your power, it is intense.”

Derek watched Stiles shrug, “I’m not sending anything out. I am not putting anything out there for people to interpret as a desire to leave my pack.”

Derek pressed a comforting hand to Stiles’s shoulder then looked back at the alpha and his wife. He sniffed a little and smiled at her, “You’re different. Not a werewolf. A shifter though.”

Mercy smiled, “Coyote Walker.”

“Very cool,” Stiles whispered and Derek chuckled.

“Maybe you would like to spend a little time with us before the Gathering is over,” Derek invited, “We don’t get to meet many wolf packs that have other supernaturals in their midst. It would be nice to not feel so strangely unique.”

Adam nodded, “That would be nice.”

Mercy cooed over Ralston for a moment before they parted ways, they made plans to meet Luke and Maia for breakfast before the start of the panel discussions at ten in the morning. Then they said goodnight to Scott who was schmoozing another alpha before they went back upstairs. Derek took Ralston back from Stiles and sent him to get the twins. Like Stiles said, there was a bassinet in the room so Derek placed Ralston on the bed, changed his diaper and settled him down in the little baby bed. Derek pressed a kiss to his downy hair, taking in the scent of family and pack and love. Smoothing the boy’s peach fuzz hair back and leaving some more of his scent behind was soothing in the aftermath of rude alphas attempting to put their hands and scent on Stiles. At least no one tried to touch Ralston, that would have been too much for him. Derek was more than willing to hand their youngest son into someone’s arms if they were known and trusted, but these people were to new and unknown.

Stiles walked into the room with sleepy twins so Derek helped them get into their pajamas and tucked into the other bed before he pulled Stiles over to the bathroom and closed them inside. He pressed Stiles against the door and kissed his husband long and deep. Stiles leaned into the kiss as his hand found its way under his shirt and Derek moaned into the touch.

“We can’t get into this really but I needed to remind myself that I’m the only one who gets to touch you like this. You’re my husband.”

Stiles smirked, “Yes sir my handsome husband. Are you sure you don’t want to try for bathroom sex?”

Derek laughed into Stiles’s shoulder getting warm at the thought, “With Ana and Matteo right on the other side and they go to the bathroom like a thousand times a night.”

Stiles sighed, “Fair point. Let’s only wear boxers and cuddle, the skin on skin is going to help you and me especially if these jackass alphas are going to keep acting like they are.”

Derek nodded and they got ready for bed, taking turns at the sink and the toilet. They walked back out into the other room, kissing each other the twins and Ralston once more before they climbed into bed ad curled around each other.

The next morning, everyone was awake before 6:30 AM and Derek was sure Stiles was going to cut someone if they looked at him wrong. Stiles and Derek both struggle to sleep well when they are away from the Pack and the phenomenon was even more exacerbated when they had any of the kids with them. Derek changed Ralston while Stiles got each of the twins in and out of the bathroom then into fresh clothes before he started warming a bottle and they all went downstairs for breakfast. Derek held Ralston while Stiles helped the twins get some food, helping with the necessary cutting and buttering of toast before he slumped down in his chair and Derek took pity on him. He went over to the coffee cart and made a large cup of coffee exactly the way that Stiles liked it and put in front of his husband.

Stiles looked up at him, “Thank you, you are a god among men.”

Derek rolled his eyes, “I would take that as a compliment except you say that to literally everyone who brings you coffee.”

Stiles scoffed, “Well I could mention your other godlike attributes if you would like, those things that only I get to enjoy.”

Derek flushed a little and looked around, noticing a couple wolves smirking at the exchange. It was just a part of being married to Stiles Stilinski because he didn’t have a filter or a volume down button. Unless they were being stealthy for a reason, Stiles was too proud to be quiet about his love and desire for Derek Hale in a room full of werewolves.

“After you are done picking on me, can you either take and feed Ralston or go get food for us?”

Stiles guzzled half of his coffee and ran towards the buffet and Derek didn’t get offended only because Derek apparently _never_ got enough food and Stiles –the human in their marriage—found that to be incredibly dissatisfying and completely un-wolflike. Derek settled down in his chair and started feeding Ralston from the bottle he had in his pocket. It was at best lukewarm but Ralston grabbed onto the nipple easily and started suckling. Derek made sure Ana and Matteo had enough food and weren’t making a mess before he checked on Stiles who was chatting with Maia about the spread and how the hotel clearly didn’t understand the overall need of the people they were hosting.

Derek just shook his head with a smile.

“You seem to be a man well pleased with his lot in life?” the alpha from last night, Adam, said as he pulled up a chair for him and his coyote shifter wife. They kindly left enough space for Stiles and now, leaving Derek enough space that they wouldn’t touch each other.

Derek’s smile strained a little, unsure of what to do when happiness seemed like such a dangerous thing to share with other people outside his pack. It felt to vulnerable.

Adam sensed the change, so did Ralston and the twins and Stiles who was suddenly rushing across the room with the leaning tower of pancakes and more than enough food to feed like four people instead of just the two of them.

“Good morning Alpha Hauptman, Alpha Mate Mercy, how are you both this morning? Did you struggle to sleep as much as I did?” he asked, pulling focus from Derek’s emotional turmoil and landing the couple’s attention back on him. Mercy and her husband both smiled at Stiles, completely aware of what he was doing and allowing it.

Derek took a moment to press kisses to the top of Ralston’s head, allowing the moment to soothe him and remind him that despite the discomfort and rudeness of the previous evening, he was safe here. He wasn’t alone and he wasn’t a danger to his pack and children. Stiles wiggled himself down between Derek and where Adam was sitting so Derek made a disgruntled growl as he scooted over and let Stiles feed him a plain pancake before he started lathering a stack of them with butter and the dreaded syrup that he was planning to drown them in.

Derek munched on the pancake, kept feeding their son as Luke and Maia joined them and Stiles kept up some conversation flow in between bites. When Ralston was finished, Derek lifted him to rub his back until he burped. Stiles immediately held his hands out to take the infant so Derek could eat to which he gave Stiles a judgmental look.

“What?” Stiles asked while the others chuckled around them.

“Go wash all the syrup off your hands and face before you touch him, we are not going to have time to change his clothes unless there is an unfortunate diaper.”

Maia and Mercy both gave cringing snickers at the thought of dirty diapers during the meetings while Stiles pushed away from the table and headed to the bathroom to clean everything up.

“You two seem to have a flow for this?” Mercy asked stiltedly, seemingly concerned about hitting another landmine after her husband did earlier. Derek didn’t like doing that at the Gatherings because he was a Second of a werewolf pack and the spouse on one of the strongest sparks in the nation but he couldn’t help when the world came in and his experiences made him feel unsafe. He cleared his throat and answered politely.

“We have an older daughter as well, she was our first and according to her latest parental rants, we learned all of our big mistakes with her. We’ve had the twins for a long time and Ralston is supposed to be our last.”

Stiles walked back over, cleaned up and said “Ha! Don’t let him fool you, Rally is going to get older and suddenly this Daddy is going to get a hankering for another baby.”

Derek rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I’m definitely the only one who wanted Rally.”

Stiles grinned, winking as Derek settled Ralston against Stiles’s chest so he could eat next. They chatted a little longer together and Jesse even joined them, which thrilled Ana and Matteo who apparently enjoyed their evening with her.

Maia was looking between them with keen interest, “What?” Stiles finally asked.

“I don’t understand, the twins smell like they are yours because of scent marking but there is a clear scent of another set of parents but the baby is distinctly both of yours. Did you use magic?”

Stiles grinned and Derek watched him bounce Ralston a little, letting him look around the room with his bright little gaze. “We have a really smart friend, she helped us figure out how to mix our DNA and then we had a friend carry him to term. We did the same with our first child.”

“This friend would be a wonderful tool with other packs as well,” Luke mentioned.

“You know someone who may need the help, you mean?” Stiles asked.

“A close friend to the pack, a gay couple though I don’t know if they are even considering children and how to have them but it would be interesting to give them an option.”

Stiles shrugged, “You can share our story with them and if there is interest, we are always willing to play intermediary with our friend and see if she’s interested in taking her show on the road. She is not technically one of our betas but she is a close family friend.”

Luke nodded, still looking introspective. Stiles glanced down at his phone, “We should get to the panel discussions.”

Jesse took Ana and Matteo’s hands, “I can take them up to the room with me?”

Derek looked at Stiles then nodded, “Though we are going to have to go back to the room and get Ralston’s bag.”

Stiles grabbed all their detritus from breakfast with one hand as Derek reached out and pulled Ralston away from his husband as Stiles spoke. “I’ll get it, you save us a good seat please?” he smiled and pressed a kiss to Derek’s head and walked away with Jesse and the twins, hitting up the garbage on the way by.

Derek waved off all the others and decided to wait while Stiles came back from the room. Instead he just stared at their son and watched the infant grabbed at Derek’s fingers and cooed, he was beautiful and precious and despite Stiles’s annoyance about losing their chance to be alone together Derek was actually happy to have the kids with them. They’d been coming to the Gatherings for years now and they’d always left their kids at home. But Ralston was so little and he hadn’t liked the idea of leaving the little boy with anyone.

“Hey love, you ready to go?” Stiles asked as he walked back over to him. Derek nodded but didn’t move so Stiles sat back down with him and smiled, “You don’t have to hide from everyone, my love.”

Derek nodded but didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He didn’t really know what to say. Stiles and the Pack and the kids were his safe place and though he desired safety and security, it wasn’t as easy as that.

Stiles pressed a hand to the side of Derek’s neck and he turned to look at him, “Hey. Do you remember when Claudia first started showing signs of her powers but she wasn’t shifting and we had to reach out into the community to find some help for her? Do you remember what you told me then? When all I knew how to do was freak out about our baby?”

Derek hugged Ralston against his chest and pressed his cheek to the back of Stiles’s hand. “I said that it didn’t matter what we had to do or who we had to reach out to, we were going to do anything to make sure Claudia got the help she needed so she could be okay.”

Stiles nodded, “So you and I are always going to do everything for them and each other. You got me to come here and bring the kids with us so let’s go get our learning on.”

Derek nodded and handed Ralston to Stiles before he stood up and headed to the panel discussion, there was going to be a whole day’s worth of discussions and one of them was going to be Scott’s ‘talk’ on the True Alpha power and Derek was going to desperately fight against the desire to laugh at his alpha.

That was bad manners.

Derek and Stiles worked together throughout the day to make sure that Ana and Matteo were doing okay with their guardians, made sure that Ralston had what he needed and went to all the events and panels and conversation starters over the next two days. Since they befriended Luke and Maia as well as Adam and Mercy, it seemed like most of the young shitty alphas had decided to leave Stiles alone. That was really in every one’s best interests since Derek was still emotionally raw and the wolf inside wanted to fight and he could just drag them out of the hotel for a little showdown if need be.

But they made it through the weekend event without any blood and they were going to the last mixer, a last chance before everyone slept off the booze and then they went home the next day. For the first time, Derek and Stiles agreed to leave Ralston with Jesse since they’d spent the last two days getting to know her, Adam and Mercy. She seemed like the best chance they were going to have to have an actual evening alone before they went home to more chaos of the pack and the kids.

Derek and Stiles got ready and went down to the ballroom separately, just to bump up the date aspect of the evening. Derek was waiting just inside with Adam and a few other of the alphas that he could stand and were willing to respect his marriage and bond with Stiles. He decided on black jeans, black muscle shirt with button up shirt that was loose and open. After about five minutes of inane chit-chat Derek scented his husband’s heartbeat and stood away from the table and the other alphas smiled because they got it. At least the ones with mates and spouses did anyway.

Stiles opened the door and looked around, he looked stunning in his skinny jeans, a sunny yellow with a black button up and a yellow vest over it. Stiles didn’t believe in boring or mainstream suits and Derek had gotten used to it over the years and he had to be honest; the uniqueness of his clothes was still a weird delight after all the years.

It wasn’t smoke signals on his skin today and that was good too.

Stiles caught sight of Derek and started walking over to him, Derek met him halfway and took his lips in a deep kiss. It was much more difficult to kiss Stiles like that when one of them was holding a six-month-old so he was going to enjoy the opportunity. After a few minutes of kissing, people started hooting and cheering them on.

Stiles pulled away with a laugh, “Let’s go dance the night away, HusbandWolf.”

“Deal,” Derek said and took Stiles onto the dance floor where a couple of people were already swaying around, in small groups and couples. Derek watched as Stiles bounced around like a lunatic, smiling happily as he watched.

They danced a couple of songs together, pulling Scott out with them as well for one. They spent time with the friends they’d made at this Gathering and did indeed dance the night away.

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, please if you feel you need to correct something at least add something you liked about the fic too.


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